thenhlfandomcom-20200215-history
James van Riemsdyk
| birth_place = Middletown, New Jersey | draft = 2nd overall | draft_year = 2007 | draft_team = Philadelphia Flyers | career_start = 2009 }} James van Riemsdyk (born James Frederick van Riemsdyk on May 4, 1989) is an American professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). James began his NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers (the organization that originally selected him second overall at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft) before being traded to the Maple Leafs in 2012. Additionally, he has represented the United States in numerous tournaments. Playing Career Amateur Playing Career James attended Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey, before moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan for his junior year to play for the USA Hockey's National Team Development Program (NTDP). Prior to that, he played from Mite to his first year of Midgets for the Brick Hockey Club in Brick. Although he was born and raised in New Jersey, James was an avid fan of the rival New York Rangers. James was drafted second overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, following fellow American Patrick Kane, marking the first time in NHL history that Americans were chosen first and second overall in the same draft. Following his draft, James played the 2007–08 season at the collegiate level in the NCAA with the University of New Hampshire, where he scored 74 points in two seasons under Head Coach Dick Umile. Philadelphia Flyers On April 2, 2009, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that James would forgo his final two years of college eligibility at the University of New Hampshire to sign an entry-level contract for the 2009–10 season; he had previously spent the remainder of the 2008–09 season playing for the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, on an amateur tryout contract. It was during the 2009–10 pre-season that James began making an impact for the Flyers. Initially expected to spend his first year of professional hockey in the AHL (or at best, earn a spot midway through the season), James seized the attention in the Flyers' annual rookie game against the Washington Capitals with four goals and an assist in the team's 7–3 rout of the Capitals' rookies. As James moved into the pre-season, he established himself as one of the most consistent members of the Flyers outfit, once again seizing attention with two goals against the Detroit Red Wings in a 5–2 Flyers victory. James was included in the Flyers' starting 2009–10 roster to play on a third line with prolific sophomore Claude Giroux. He scored his first career NHL point in his NHL debut, recording an assist on a powerplay goal by Mike Richards in a 2–0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. His next game saw a return to his home state of New Jersey, where he contributed two more assists against the New Jersey Devils. James suffered a minor concussion shortly after that due to a hit by Washington defenseman Milan Jurcina in the Flyers' home opener and subsequently missed two games. On October 24, 2010, James scored his first goal agains Tomas Vokoun of the Florida Panthers. James had an impressive month of November for a rookie, scoring four goals—three of which were game-winners—and five assists. For his performances, he was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for November. During the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Philadelphia (who finished in seventh place in the Eastern Conference during the regular season) found themselves down three games to none against the sixth-seeded Boston Bruins. The Flyers mounted a comeback, however, defeating the Bruins in Game 7, marking just the third time in NHL history a team has won a series after being down by three games. With 2:50 left in the first period, James scored his first career playoff goal, shifting the game's momentum to the Flyers. Philadelphia went on to win the game 4–3 and the playoff series, four games to three. Not since the New York Islanders came back from a 3–0 deficit against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1975 had a team won four games in a row to win an NHL playoff series. For James' momentum-changing goal, he was named the impact player of the game. On February 15, 2011, in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, James recorded his first Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and a fight in the Flyers' first victory over the Lightning in the season series. On March 26, 2011, in a game against the New York Islanders, James recorded his first career NHL hat-trick in the Flyers' 4–1 victory in front of some of his aunts, uncles and his mother. Two of the three goals were scored in even-strength play while the third came on the power play. In the opening round of the 2011 playoffs, James had a very strong series and was a key to the Flyers' 4–3 series win over the Buffalo Sabres—he tallied four goals in the series, including the eventual game-winner in Game 7 to help the Flyers advance to the next round. He then followed the Buffalo series with three goals in four games against Boston as the Flyers were ultimately swept in four-straight by the Bruins. Despite only playing in 11 games, James finished third in the entire post-season in total shots with 70—behind only Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks and led the post-season in shots per game. In the subsequent off-season, the Flyers re-signed James to a six-year, $25.5 million contract extension. James (who was entering his third season in Philadelphia) provided the length of the extension on his Twitter. He was scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2011–12 campaign, a season in which he finished with then-career highs in points (40), goals (21) and plus-minus rating (+15). During the 2012 season, James broke his foot, requiring surgery. Toronto Maple Leafs On June 23, 2012, James was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Luke Schenn. During the lockout-shortened 2012–13 with Toronto, he scored 18 goals and 32 points while playing in all 48 regular season games. The Maple Leafs would make the playoffs for the first time since the 2003–04 season, but fell in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup finalist Boston Bruins in seven games. James finished the playoffs with a team-leading seven points in seven games. On March 28, 2014, James tied an NHL record for fastest goal to start off a period, scoring four seconds into the frame. He accomplished the feat against his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers. He currently shares the record with both Claude Provost and Denis Savard. By season's end, he set career-highs in goals (30) and points (61). Despite a disappointing 2014–15 season for the Maple Leafs, James led the team in goals (27) while tallying 56 points in all 82 regular season games played. On November 4, 2014, he recorded an assist on a goal by Cody Franson for his 200th career point. During the 2015-16 season with the Maple Leafs, James fractured his left foot on January 11. Up to that point he was leading the team in points (29), and was second in goals (14), and shots (129) after 40 games. On February 25, 2016, it was announced that he was going to be out for the remainder of the season. On October 14, 2016, James was announced as one of the 100 greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time, placing 100 on the list. On October 15, 2016, the Maple Leafs retired Borje Salming's No. 21, causing him to change his number from 21 to 25. Career Statistics Regular season and playoffs International International play USA }} Junior James' first international experience came when he played in the 2007 World Under-18 Championships (U18), in which the United States won the gold medal. In 2006–07, he scored 33 goals and 30 assists for the U.S. Under-18 National Team and represented the United States at the 2007 World Junior Championships (WJC) in Sweden. He followed up his inaugural WJC by winning the scoring title at the 2007 U18 with five goals and seven assists. He was named to the tournament all-star team, named the top forward and garnered MVP honours as the United States won silver, only losing against the Russians in the final. James had a great showing at the 2008 WJC, where he led the entire tournament in scoring with five goals and six assists. Despite his efforts, however, the U.S. did not medal, finishing fourth. Nonetheless, he was named to the WJC All-Star Team in 2008. He continued his strong international play with six goals and four assists at the 2009 WJC as the Americans finished in fifth. Senior James made his debut in senior international competition when he played for the United States at the 2011 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia where Team USA finished eighth. He scored one goal in the two games he played. On January 1, 2014, after James had played in the 2014 NHL Winter Classic for Toronto against the Detroit Red Wings, he was announced as a member of the U.S. Olympic team for participation at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The Americans, however, finished a disappointing fourth at the tournament, though in the six games he played in, he had one goal and a tournament-leading six assists, also leading the tournament in plus-minus. Personal Life James was born in Middletown, New Jersey to parents Frans and Allison van Riemsdyk. His father, Frans was born in the Netherlands and moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada as a child and grew up in Madison, New Jersey. He has two younger brothers who are also hockey players: Trevor (born on July 24, 1991) who is a defenseman for the Carolina Hurricanes and Brendan (born on January 28, 1996) who plays for the University of New Hampshire. He grew up with and remains close friends with well-known Philadelphia financial services professional Patrick Keenan. In 2012, James appeared in the movie "This is 40" alongside Scott Hartnell, Ian Laperriere and Matt Carle. On November 24, 2012, he participated in "Operation Hat Trick", a charity hockey game held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey to raise money for the Hurricane Sandy victims. Category:American hockey players Category:National Hockey League first round draft picks Category:New Hampshire Wildcats players Category:Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Category:Philadelphia Phantoms player Category:Philadelphia Flyers players Category:Toronto Maple Leafs players Category:American ice hockey players Category:1989 births Category:USA Hockey National Team Development Program players